A MAN who caused the death of a Swindon father-of-two through his careless driving has been freed from jail, less than a month after being sentenced.

Prakash Samatbhai Odedara, 29, was jailed for four months on November 30 after pleading guilty to causing the crash that claimed Kingsdown resident Gary Lane’s death in 2008.

But at the Criminal Appeal Court yesterday judges overturned the decision, saying the sentence was too harsh, and instead ordered Odedara to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that on October 2 last year Odedara, of Sherwood Road, was on his way back from delivering a pizza when his Smart car hit Mr Lane’s Aprilia motorbike.He had just pulled out of a side road, heading back towards Chicago Jo’s Pizzas in Windbrook Meadow, when he hit the 23-year-old, who was travelling at around 30mph.

Mr Lane was taken to hospital but died from his injuries.

Odedara was jailed and banned from driving for two years when, at Swindon Crown Court, he admitted causing death by careless driving.

Lord Justice Hughes, who heard the case alongside Mrs Justice Rafferty and Mr Justice Edward-Stuart, told the court that Odedara recognised that he had done wrong and was not driving at speed at the time of the incident. He said: “Odedara suggested, when interviewed by police, that the motorcycle must have been going too fast or must not have had its light on.

“Those were really ways of saying, ‘I did not see him, he came from nowhere, there must have been an explanation’.”

Lord Justice Hughes concluded: “The right sentence would have been a community order requiring the defendant to give up his liberty to try and pay back the community for the injury he had done.”

A community order, comprising 100 hours of unpaid work, was substituted for the jail term. Noting that Odedara had already served some time in custody, Lord Justice Hughes concluded: “This accurately reflects the damage he had done by his momentary fault.”